Inspection of electrical characteristics of an electronic circuit, such as an IC or an LSI, formed on, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer) are performed by using a probe card mounted on a probe device. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a probe device 100 includes a probe card 101, a holding stage 102 on which a wafer W is placed, and a card holder 103 for holding the probe card 101.
The probe card 101 includes a support plate 111 that is called a contactor or a guide plate for supporting a plurality of needle-shaped probes 110, and a printed wiring board 112 electrically connected to the support plate 111. The support plate 111 has a bottom surface, on which front end contact portions of the probes 110 protrude, facing the wafer W, and the printed wiring board 112 is disposed at a top surface side of the support plate 111.
A correcting member 113 for correcting the degree of flatness of the support plate 111 is formed at a top surface side of the printed wiring board 112. A reinforcing member 114 for reinforcing the printed wiring board 112 is formed at a top surface side of the correcting member 113. An outer peripheral portion of the reinforcing member 114 is fixed to the card holder 103 by bolts 115.
Inspection of electrical characteristics of a device on the wafer W is performed by bringing the front end contact portions of the plurality of probes 110 into contact with electrodes of an electronic circuit of the device and applying an electrical inspection signal to a corresponding electrode from each of the plurality of probes 110 through the printed wiring board 112, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-10629).